It had to have been December by now.

Lu was apart of the town for at least a month and a half, only socializing with people she was introduced to such as a nice young woman named Ann and her daughter Farrah who originated from Florida, before that Puerto Rico. Another was one of Norman's friends, Gregory, who was a little younger then Philis and stopped by the house twice a week for supper.

Another guest they had for a few days not long ago was a gentleman in his late thirties named Theodore. Or at least that was what Philis called him. Lu grew to calling him Ted as long as he called her Lu and not Emma, but between Philis and Kennedy always calling her 'Emma', Theodore and everyone one else they came across caught on to calling her by her first name.

Emma Louise and Theodore became friends during his short stay with the Bates. She had help doing the harder, heavy lifting chores around the house and he had someone to talk to that was also in the same situation he was in.

Ted had lost his wife earlier that summer due to an illness, and his younger sister due to "her own brave stupidity," but was still traveling with their group that took them in. One night a few walkers made them flee their campsite and they were all separated. That's when some of Kallenberg's thugs found him wandering off of the road. Unaware that people are much harsher now days he let them take him to their town, beat him up for information about his own group and put him up with the Bates. He was waiting on the city council to decide his fate.

"I wouldn't sweat it if I was you," Lu told him the next day before suppertime while Mr. and Mrs. Bates were preoccupied. "I've been waiting on the council for a month to say if I'm staying or going. Really I'm just waiting for my chance to break out of this hellhole."

It wasn't a long wait. Kennedy was the one to come by and tell the Bates one afternoon that Theodore had decided to venture off by himself to find his group again. He told them, lied to them right on their own porch, that the council gave him supplies and a welcome back if he ever needed it. Lu knew though that they'd never see him again.

She gave him a look and took off upstairs quietly while the Bates told Kennedy how nice he was and wished him the best luck. They were utterly clueless. They didn't know that these mysterious people of the town probably took him out into the woods, made him kneel to the ground and shot him in a way where he could never return to haunt them. She couldn't help to wonder if they even bothered to bury his body or they just left it to fatten up a coyote or a bear. Maybe they were considerate enough to dump him in the lake or even set fire to it.

That's how Lu wanted to go. Be rid of this earth by being burnt not put in it! She'd be turned to ashes while the rest of her escaped into the atmosphere. It was a beautiful thought as long as it was her who was being cremated rather then the monster that wanted to take over as soon as she died. In other words, she didn't ever want to be a walker. She'd rather take a bullet to the head before that happened.

When Lu came down from upstairs Mr. and Mrs. Bates had gone out to another middle aged couple's home. Kennedy was sitting on the porch though with no remorse on his face. He still appeared as cocky as ever.

"Did the council forget about me or something?" Lu crossed her arms and looked out onto the bright paved road in front of the Bate's home.

"No they didn't forget bout you." He replied. "They are actually really curious about you. They like me to update them with how you're adjusting along with your skills and future plans."

"Ah!" She nodded then started shaking her head. "You're not telling me everything."

"You haven't either." He called her out.

"About what?"

"You're brothers," he started to say but then looked at her, "Where do you think they are, really?"

She stiffened up, held her arms in closer to her body. "Why?"

He started chuckling to himself. "Don't worry, we don't have them. By the sounds of them I think they'd already take the town by storm. I'm just wondering… Sometimes I used to wonder about my son Isaac and how he was doing after his mother stopped letting me see him when he was a kid."

"Eventually my ex-wife, Sophia," he patted his arm that had her name written on it, "let me see him. Wasn't anyone's fault but our own. She was my world but when we were together it was like when a tornado meets a volcano."

"I'm so sorry." Was all that Lu thought to say. "I can relate with me and my brothers. We hated each other in our own different ways, but we were all that each one of us had."

"Sounds like a strange relationship for siblings. Tell me again, how did you end up with them? Weren't your parents in a car accident or did they just hand you down to them? They were nice fellows at one time though, weren't they?" He smirked. Lu was caught in her own lie. She couldn't remember her own made up backstory that she told Kennedy.

"Yeah, they were nice… at first." He gave her a look then patted the seat next to him on the porch. Lu sat down and told him the real one. The one she knew best. "My eldest 'brother, Merle, is actually my father. He and my mom hooked up right after she got out of high school. A couple years later she took off and I was torn from my Minnesotan home, sent to live with my dad and uncle in Georgia."

"That's where the accent comes from." He nodded. "Do you regret her for leaving?"

"Every day." She turned around to go back into the house for some iced tea. Kennedy followed her in to pepper her with more questions.

"Why do you call him your brother then?"

"Because I can… Ugh, he's more my brother then my father that's for sure. I don't remember completely but I was little, and I wanted to be called Lu instead of Emma Louise. I didn't of either of them as my uncle or father because they were both just kids for one. Daryl must've been seventeen when I was born…"

"Old enough to be your father." He pointed out.

Lu thought about that statement then poured up a glass for Kennedy and herself and slid his across the table. As she fingered her glass she thought about how to answer what he had just said. A million ideas ran through her head. Most of them consisting of 'father', 'survival', 'resentment', 'hate', 'love', 'disappointment' and 'distanced'.

All that could come out of her mouth was, "I count Daryl as just that. Not Merle." She turned to look out the kitchen window into the backyard where a thin layer of frost covered the ground. "Am I such a horrible daughter?"

For a little lady that has always counted 'no ones girl' she felt extremely responsible for the deaths of her most hated loves of her life.

Kennedy walked past the table and behind Lu. He wrapped his arms around her until his hands found her hands tucked into her sides, unfolded them, and held them in his. He nuzzled into the side of her neck and for a sweet moment, they just stood like that, together. It was amazing.

Lu's never known a romantically involved couple in her life. At least not one that was totally dysfunctional like Carol and Ed or strange like Glenn and Maggie. Merle's never had anything other then one night stands, and who knows how many since her mom, and Daryl… forget about it. The only women he's ever talked to is Andrea, Carol and Lori.

In a nutshell, she didn't know the rules of the love game. She only knew what she felt and what she felt was right. What she felt was that this was being put off for far to long. She's been wanting Kennedy to make a move like this since a little after they started getting to know each other on a personal level and now he has and now it's the best thing she's never had. Now she had to decipher what it actually was. Love? Touch? Comfort? Absolute joy after you realize you have someone to call yours?